This invention relates to an automotive seat adjuster and particularly to one providing a seat belt anchorage which moves with the seat during fore-and-aft adjustment.
Current Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards require that automobiles be equipped with an occupant protection system as a safety feature during vehicle impact. The typical form for such an occupant protection system is a seat belt which physically restrains the occupant during impact. In order to accommodate various sizes and shapes of occupants, the front seats of motor vehicles are provided with a fore-and-aft adjustment mechanism to enable the occupant to position themselves a desired distance from the vehicle instrument panel, steering wheel and brake pedal. In many seat designs according to the prior art, anchorages for the seat belts are fastened to the vehicle floor pan at the outboard sides of the seat. When the seat position is adjusted, the seat belt becomes tightened or loosened around the occupant, requiring it to be readjusted. Mounting the seat belt anchorages to a movable portion of the seat avoids this problem, however, such designs impose cost and weight penalties since the adjuster must designed to withstand extreme mechanical loads.
This invention is directed to a design of a seat adjuster with a seat belt anchorage that moves with the seat during adjustment which provides the necessary structural integrity. The seat adjuster according to this invention has a seat adjuster latch mechanism which acts as the belt anchorage which achieves simplicity of operation and design. Significantly, at every adjusted position of the seat, the adjuster latching mechanism and the belt anchorage is in positive locking engagement with a fixed portion of the seat adjuster, thereby providing reliable and immediate restraint of seat belt loads.
Additional benefits and advantages of the present invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art to which this invention relates from the subsequent description of the preferred embodiments and the appended claims, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.